Not that we need a reason to have a picnic or some pie ala-mode, but in case you would like one to ease some guilt, here are the official national culinary days for July. hmmm, I wonder who proclaimed these. Well, good job!

As I weeded the side yard this morning I saw ripe blueberries that I know were green yesterday. Amazing how fast fruit ripens. They are no more, as I popped them all into my mouth.

This will be the first of many gallons of blueberries this summer. The bushes (we have over fifty) are packed with huge berries this year. We'll have a berry picking party with friends, but there will still be plenty for preserves and freezing to use the entire year. With such an abundance of blueberries, we are always looking for some good recipes. Here are two from other friends/bloggers that you will enjoy.

Saturday I visited the Willamette National Cemetery with my husband. When I stood alone by our country's flag, surrounded by hill upon hill of graves with veterans that have served to keep our country united and free, I thought how easy it is to not fully realize the cost we have paid to have such a great, powerful nation.

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Today we gather to celebrate the birthday of our country.

Little, local parades on Main Street show small-town spirit while larger cities have extensive fireworks and festivals. Most of us will see our flag displayed somewhere today. I hope that will be a moment of nostalgia and pride.

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Becoming so global and "open minded" through the media, whether through television or social networking on the computer, seems to have placed questions, or worse yet, complacency, in the minds of many citizens. You would think it would be the opposite. We have young soldiers fighting for us now in the middle east, yet even with all of today's instant electronics we don't hear much of this war or the men who are losing their lives to keep our country free from terror and destruction.
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﻿ We hear of illegal alien protests, gay pride and Gaga. We don't hear of Terry J. Lynch, Jason R. Watson or the thousands of other soldiers who have lost their lives recently for us.

Updated this 4th of July morning, there have been 2,553 casualties in Afghanistan of our US and coalition troops. There have been 4,786 casualties in Iraq.